Upcoming Events

Subsrcibe

Month: November 2014

Look who was waiting to greet me in the craft room this morning. I’ve heard about these little elves who help Santa out but I’ve never had one visit before. Santa must have realised I need a helper while Kathryn is gallivanting around the world!

Her name is Razzle Dazzle and here’s the letter she arrived with. Hope she doesn’t spend everyday on my scrapping table or I’ll never get anything done.

I have thoroughly enjoyed using the Brushed Workshop on the Go Kit (G1087) and only had a few odds and ends left over but I had one more layout I wanted to create for my overlays workshop. I’m happy with the way it turned out.

The overlay is cut using the Artbooking Cartridge on the Cricut. I set mine at 5″ which made each vertical band 1 1/4″ wide. I was able to scrounge enough pieces at that width to create a pattern behind the overlay.

Stamping onto patterned paper and adding a few small circles created one embellishment cluster for the bottom and then the last of my Brushed Complements and some stamped images from the WOTG stamp set provided the top cluster. Had to add a bit of bling and then some Puffies butterflies ‘cos they are my new fav embellishment! (They are launching on Dec 1st – you will want them in your stash)

Order your Brushed Workshop on the Go(G1087), Paper Pack (X7190B) and Complements (X7190C) here. Pixie & Juniper Pigment inks were used on this page. They are part of the Whimsy Pigment Pad set (Z2504) The bling is from Bitty Sparkles (Z1263) and the Sparkles Clear Assortment (Z1752)

The November Stamp of the month retires on Sunday night – have you got one yet? It is such a versatile set to have and it’s just $5 with a $75 order.

Mike and I travelled to England in July to attend the wedding of 2 special friends. We had such fun! One of the most amusing parts of the reception was the photo booth. The beautiful bride, Shonny, sent us some prints taken in the photo booth which I love. I thought this layout was the perfect home for these photos.

This layout is copied straight from the Brushed Workshop on the Go instruction sheet. It came together quickly. A Cricut overlay was used as a template for sponging – isn’t that clever? I’ll have the overlays pre-cut for everyone attending this Wednesday’s workshop.

I used the stamp set that comes in the WOTG Kit plus this month’s Stamp of the Month, It’s the Little Things to create the embellishment cluster. I stamped onto cardstock and then fussy cut with my scissors. A bit of Topiary Washi Tape (Z2002) added a focal point.

I love my Cricut machine! I’m not sure how I scrapbooked without it. Today’s layout features an overlay cut from the Artbooking cartridge. You’ll find it on page 64 of the Artbooking booklet.

I had a lot of fun filling the holes with papers from the Brushed paper Pack. The stamped title uses 3 different stamp fonts and 3 ink colours. Ink entire title in lightest colour then daub the medium and darkest colour around edges.

This layout is displayed in CTMH’s Designed Décor Shadow Box in my workshop room. The Shadow boxes come in Black (Z2015) and Colonial White (Z2016). I love the fact the frame is on a hinge so I just lift it up to swap out my display page and a 12″x12″ page fits perfectly inside. They make great Christmas gifts!

This is one of 3 techniques I’m teaching at next Wednesday’s scrapbooking workshops. I’d love to share my tips to make the job quick and easy. Why don’t you join me?

Click here to register using the reference number for your chosen session.

I know as super women, balancing work and family, we are also supposed to be organised well in advance for Christmas… BUT I know the reality of life means this doesn’t always happen. As a paper crafter you know the value of hand made. Today I’m sharing a little hand made card that can be whipped up in a few minutes.

These two cards were made in a few minutes before breakfast! Here’s what you need on hand for card emergencies…

OK, it’s official! The Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge is my new favourite tool. It makes card making so quick and easy. Here’s a card I made using mostly scraps.

The design is already on the cartridge. All I had to do was load my paper into the machine and press ‘Cut’. I was doing a few for my team members so I ended up with lots of lovely butterfly die-cuts in different shades of blue which I plan to use on a page later.

Once the base card is cut, use the die cut butterflies to guide your cutting of scrap papers to place behind the holes. Add some bling and you are done.

I have some fun Christmas cards created using this cartridge too – I’ll be teaching them at next Wednesday’s Christmas Card Classes (9.30am or 7.30pm) Email shaunnarichards@bigpond.com for details

One of the things I love about being a consultant with Close To My Heart is the active sharing of ideas between consultants. It is rare for me to have to think something up myself – so many really creative ladies make amazing things and show the rest of us how it’s done.

Take these fabulous Christmas gift tubes for instance. These ones were made by Katrina Crute, a consultant in my team. She showed them off at this month’s team play day. Her inspiration had come from consultants in the Eastern States.

Katrina said she plans to run a strip of sticky tape over the join between the lid and base because otherwise her kids might peek. On Christmas day they can cut the tape.

I loved these and used the basic design to decorate a My Creations Kraft Container (X1833) for my Operation Smile donations collection container. Close to My Heart are corporate partners with this amazing organisation. Volunteer health professionals from all over the world regularly work within Operation Smile teams in third world countries repairing Cleft Lips and Cleft Palettes. In Australia this surgery is carried out early and children enjoy growing up without the stigma of a facial deformity. In third world countries this isn’t the case and children often die because they can’t feed properly or endure teasing and exclusion from school.

You can help our fundraising efforts by adding a small donation to each of your orders. It can be as simple as rounding the total up to the next dollar! Just $275 AU will fund one operation. Will you help me to help as many kids as we can in the next year?